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Whether you have a PC or Mac, laptop, tablet or Chromebook, listening to music while you surf, work or game is a constant pleasure. What’s less good is the sound quality – even if you’re using a pair of good quality headphones, the sound output is usually left wanting. The ZEN DAC (Digital to Analogue Convertor) V2 massively improves the sound by bypassing your computer’s soundcard and headphone output and replacing them with bespoke, audiophile grade components.
Disclaimer: The iFi Zen DAC V2 has been provided to us on loan for this review. As of this writing, iFI Audio is a sponsor of Hifitrends, but all opinion in this review is solely our own, and no input has been given from the manufacturer. Build/Features I bought this as an upgrade to my dragonfly red 1st generation. I use it my with Adam audio T5V studio monitors connected to PC.In the world of amps there’s a spectrum of transparency and coloring. Where your ears fall on that spectrum is of course a matter of taste, and each amp is made with a different intention. The main intention of both the original and updated Zen DAC seems to be transparency, clarity, and power. My original impression of the first Zen DAC was that it was ever so slightly colored. However, what seems more likely is that it’s so loyal to the sound of the original file that I’m hearing audio with so little added coloring, it sounds vaguely different from what I’m used to. That being said, it’s equally possible that both the Zen DAC and Zen DAC V2 have some very subtle coloring to them in addition to their high quality sound. The bottom line is that in terms of sound quality, you will be able to tell a difference when using the Zen DAC V2. However, in terms of sound signature, any differences are highly debatable, subjective, and hard to pin down. But, nonetheless, I will give you my perceived impressions of what I heard, and am not going to drive myself mad trying to decide which differences to pin on uninterrupted quality and which to pin, if any, on subtle coloring.
Compare the iFi with price rivals and it’s clearly up there with the best when it comes to sound quality. But it also offers a degree of versatility that those rivals don’t. If you’re looking for a well-built, budget desktop DAC, this iFi should be top of your list. iFi has tried to optimise the sound for a wide range of headphones. There’s a button on the front that offers a choice of output levels to take into account the large difference in sensitivity between headphone types, and another that adds a degree of bass boost. This works subtly enough to be useful, adding extra weight and authority to thin or lean sounding cans. One thing, iFi what were your thinking with the supplied leads? If they had been any shorter I would have had to use a microscope to find them! I really like it, and and the use case is perfect for me. I can absolutely see it as an easy, entry level first unit for not that hard to drive headphones. I have no medium to drive planar here like the Arya v2, so without testing, i would say that if you use something in that ballpark (more demanding), you get to its limits (Arya v3 Stealth should be totally fine, way easier to drive). It sounds clean and doesn't colour the sound. That's good for some headphones, but for others you may want to take the edges off. If you want to upgrade from it / spend more money, i would 100% go for a bit of a more coloured sound (either a clean tube amp (something like the Echo), or an entry level class A amp (like the rebel amp) ), a lot of headphones really benefit a lot from a warmer source. On the new version, MQA can be signified by either a Green or Blue LED on the front of the DAC, as well as Magenta, bringing to light (no pun intended) a sensational new feature.There are hi-fi system-friendly inputs – namely coaxial, optical and aptX Bluetooth – but while RCA outputs are onboard for hooking it up to an amplifier in a loudspeaker-fronted system, much of the Hugo 2’s design is, like every other DAC mentioned so far, geared towards feeding headphones. If you aren’t a big fan of headphone listening, however, and would be satisfied by a DAC that can purely sit between a digital source and amplifier to make a sonic difference in a hi-fi speaker system, then we would point you to another Chord (yes, Chord Electronics largely dominates this market) – the Qutest. Mids have a natural sound, both male and female voices have a clear, enjoyable reproduction. The detail is average, the zen dac focuses on delivering richer tones and well textured instruments and voices instead of being analytical and ultra resolutive so the technical performance is pretty competent in this dac/amp but not outstanding.. Utopia (balanced): Hmmm, it's better than i thought. I prefer it on a warmer source but it's not that bad. It still slaps hard, bass boost is a bit overkill but can be fun. It doesn't even need high gain. But the more i listen to it, the more i want to plug it into the Oor, but i think that's mostly because of the class A sound and not the power.
The ZenDAC can also be used as a system DAC in combination with an external amplifier. It has RCA outputs, as well as a 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced output. This would need a special cable to be made (4.4mm to dual 3pin XLR) for use with a balanced external amplifier, but the option is there, and that is pretty neat. You can also choose either variable output, for use with a power amplifier, or fixed, for use with a preamp or integrated amplifier. Yeah, I was one of those kids. I passed first semester Ear Training in a single week. I have always had the ear for the subtleties in music. One of the more basic exercises is a simple tuning test. The subject must listen to a series of pitches all within a few 'cents' of each other, and must match them exactly with no assistance. Only your ear can be your tool. Now came the time for some listening. The listening notes you read below come via a HP all-in-one PC running Roon. I am evaluating the DAC with its own headamp, while Sennheiser HD650 headphones are the listening transducer of choice.
Chord Hugo 2
The Zen Dac has surprisingly good bass extension. Similarly priced Dacs often weak out under 100Hz, but the Zen Dac keeps going. The bass is nicely balanced and relatively flat in its price range with an option to give it a tasteful boost (‘truebass’ button). Channel Balance is absolutely superb via both single ended RCA and balanced Pentaconn outputs. Via headphone output, Left and Right channels have a slight imbalance of less that half a decibel across entire frequency range. In practice this should not be of any notable detriment. The 4.4mm balanced connection is very hard to insert and pull out with some connectors (not all), the worst case was with the Gaea (that's why i'm actually glad i'll only use it with the unbalanced adapter)
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